9/11 wicked but a work of art, says Damien Hirst

Tuesday 10 September 2002 21.13 EDT
First published on Tuesday 10 September 2002 21.13 EDT

The artist Damien Hirst said last night he believed the terrorists responsible for the September 11 attacks "need congratulating" because they achieved "something which nobody would ever have thought possible" on an artistic level.

Hirst, who is no stranger to controversy, said many people would "shy away" from looking at the event as art but he believed the World Trade Centre attack was "kind of like an artwork in its own right".

In an interview, Hirst told BBC News Online: "The thing about 9/11 is that it's kind of an artwork in its own right. It was wicked, but it was devised in this way for this kind of impact. It was devised visually."

Describing the image of the hijacked planes crashing into the twin towers as "visually stunning", he added: "You've got to hand it to them on some level because they've achieved something which nobody would have ever have thought possible, especially to a country as big as America.

"So on one level they kind of need congratulating, which a lot of people shy away from, which is a very dangerous thing."

Referring to how the event changed perceptions, he added: "I think our visual language has been changed by what happened on September 11: an aeroplane becomes a weapon - and if they fly close to buildings people start panicking. Our visual language is constantly changing in this way and I think as an artist you're constantly on the lookout for things like that."

Hirst also said any military action to stop more terrorist acts would be a mistake: "I think the thing to do is to stand up and say hang on a minute - this is people, these are bodies, these are lives. The surest way to make it happen again is to go and start throwing stones at somebody."